


Keep an eye out for endermen

by Captain_Erika



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angst, Blood, Gen, Major Character Injury, Swearing, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26050564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Erika/pseuds/Captain_Erika
Summary: Well, endermen are pretty dangerous.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 75





	Keep an eye out for endermen

As much as Mumbo loved raiding the End, he never managed to forget the dangers it held. Between anti-social endermen, territorial shulkers, an endless void and an honest-to-god _dragon_ , it wasn’t somewhere he felt terribly comfortable messing around.

But it was nice to watch other people enjoy themselves, even if it meant he had to stay even more vigilant.

Right now, he was sitting on cold endstone and watching Grian and Iskall chasing each other around. Even after hours of traipsing across island after island on foot, those two still seemed to have boundless energy. As far as he could tell, they were playing some kind of tag—he was sure you couldn’t play tag with two people, but they seemed to be managing it anyway, haring around the chorus plants.

And they didn’t have any interest in keeping a low profile if their playful shrieks were anything to go by. Mumbo briefly wondered if he should step in, ask them to calm down a little and remember the very real dangers of the End. Then again, both of them had been well-behaved for hours now and Mumbo didn’t want to deal with a Grian pent-up with mischievous energy. This island seemed pretty safe, the light scattering of chorus allowing him to see through to the edges of the island. It was small enough that he could see the whole island from where he sat if he turned his head, but large enough that he wasn’t worried one of his friends would fall off the edge. And there weren’t any endermen around either, at least for now.

So, a short rest break it was.

He reached for his bag, keeping one eye on Grian and Iskall as he rummaged through it. He pulled out a carrot, still proud that he had a steady source of the golden variety so early in the season. And once this trip was over, he’d have a pair of wings too. Maybe that would be the motivation he needed to build a gunpowder farm. _That should probably be the next project on the list_ , he thought, _although I think Grian’s got one. Maybe I could borrow it for a bit._

He took a bite, the tangy metallic coating mixing nicely with the crunch of the carrot underneath. He absent-mindedly kicked at a stone, sending it skittering towards Iskall, who paused at the sound. The distraction was just enough for Grian to barrel into him, knocking them both to the floor.

“Got you! Finally!” Grian laughed.

“Oh yeah?” Iskall smirked, “Bet you can’t hold me down for five seconds.”

“Of course I can, easi—Oh, you cheater!”

Grian fell back onto the ground as Mumbo heard the familiar sound of teleportation and Iskall appeared standing up behind him, casually tossing an ender pearl up and down.

“Not cheating, just playing smarter than you.” He smiled as Grian huffed and pulled himself off the ground, “But I’ll still be it.”

He lunged towards at Grian, who leapt backwards before whirling around, his boots scrabbling for purchase on the smooth stones.

Mumbo smiled at Iskall’s antics and they both watched as Grian sprinted off between the chorus stems.

“I guess I should go after him,” Iskall said, “Although it might be funny to see how long it takes him to realise I’m not chasing him.”

Funny, maybe, but not worth the risk in Mumbo’s mind. With a groan, he picked himself up off the ground. “Come on, let’s go after him.”

“You’re no fun.” Iskall elbowed him gently, but followed without protest when he set off into the chorus forest.

They spotted Grian quickly, hiding poorly behind one of the plants. He hadn’t seen them yet.

But that wasn’t Mumbo’s main focus. His attention was on the tall shape standing nearby, black peeking through the purple undergrowth. There was a lone enderman wandering through the forest. Close enough that it could potentially become an issue if they weren’t careful. Mumbo knew he had a pumpkin head in his bag for situations just like these, but Iskall and Grian were unlikely to have taken that precaution, and even if they had, he doubted they would wear them just because he was a little nervous around endermen.

Iskall tapped Mumbo on the shoulder, distracting him from the enderman, and placed his finger to his lips. He silently gestured towards Grian, a mischievous glint in his non-mechanical eye.

Mumbo frowned and shook his head. He pointed at the enderman, careful to keep his eyes away from theirs. _Don’t sneak up on him_ , he mouthed, _Too dangerous_.

A smile that Mumbo really didn’t like the look of slid onto Iskall’s face.

 _Who said I was going to sneak up on him?_ Iskall mouthed back.

Before Mumbo could tell Iskall that whatever _else_ he was planning on doing was a bad idea, Iskall cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted as loudly as he could.

“ _Hey_! Grian!”

Grian jumped out of his skin, rocketing away from his hiding place. Mumbo locked eyes with him as he stumbled back.

Straight into the enderman.

Mumbo knew better than to look up at its eyes, but Grian did on instinct, wanting to know what he’d bumped into.

Mumbo saw the exact moment the enderman took offence. Its whole body bristled, like a cat that had been sprayed with water and its mouth dropped open, revealing a set of sharp white teeth as the horrible screeching filled the air.

Grian seemed frozen, realisation and fear on his face.

Despite Mumbo’s constant need to be alert for danger, it was Iskall who acted first. He jumped towards Grian, his sword already by his side. He grabbed Grian by his jumper and pulled him away from the angry creature. It vanished before he could take a swing, but now he’d looked at it too.

Mumbo tried to watch while keeping his head down—right now he could be a surprise attack, and he didn’t want to lose that advantage. Besides, he knew Iskall was good at combat and Grian was capable enough. An enderman’s long arms could pack a punch, but barring some unforeseen circumstance, they would be more than able to handle it.

The enderman reappeared off to the side, running full tilt at Iskall, but it was far enough away that he had time to raise his sword and swipe at it. It blinked out of reality once again before the sword could connect.

Grian and Iskall stood back to back now, both swords out, waiting for the next attack. Even with the adrenaline in Mumbo’s system, it didn’t feel like long before it was back, right in front of Grian this time, clearly much closer than he was expecting. He tried to jump out of the way, but with Iskall behind him a chorus stem to his side, there was no room to dodge the blow the enderman landed on his arm, claws raking through his unprotected skin. Both of them hissed at the impact before particles swarmed again and the enderman teleported in front of Iskall. He rushed it immediately, driving the creature back a few blocks and holding its attention.

Okay, this was getting dicey. He should step in. Mumbo grabbed his sword’s handle and tried to pull it out of his bag. The hilt snagged on the fabric and the enderman starting zipping around Grian and Iskall, staying long enough to land a hit on Grian’s chest and one narrowly missing his head before vanishing in a puff of particles to take on Iskall.

Mumbo yanked at his sword, ripping the threads it was caught on. Bag be damned, it wasn’t important right now. Iskall was doing well to defend himself as the enderman flickered in and out of place, but Grian was struggling to lift his sword. Each swing only cut through air, his movements far too slow to catch the enderman circling them.

Mumbo ran towards them. He’d been right to keep his head down before—the enderman didn’t notice him until he buried his sword in its leg. It screeched in pain and squirmed about, yanking Mumbo’s sword out of his grasp as he ducked away from its thrashing arms.

Iskall wasn’t as lucky. He tried to back up, get out of range of those flailing claws, but he couldn’t move fast enough. A sickening clang rang out as one of then enderman’s arms connected with his helmet, knocking him aside. He hit the ground hard.

The enderman vanished and reappeared again, right behind Iskall. It loomed over him, looking even taller now that Iskall was on the ground.

Iskall looked dazed from the blow, sitting up slowly and bringing his hand up to rub his head. Blood trickled down his face from underneath his helmet. He didn’t seem to notice the creature behind him gearing up for another attack.

Grian, Mumbo and the enderman lunged in the same instant, swords and claws out.

But the creature was a lot closer to Iskall than they were.

It threw itself on top of him, pinning him down with its weight, raking its sharp claws down his face and tearing at the only armourless, vulnerable skin it could find—his throat.

In the next instant, Grian’s sword struck the creature in the chest and Mumbo rammed it with his shoulder. Unbalanced, it rolled off of Iskall and tumbled to the ground, shrieking in its horrible garbled language. Their swords clanked as they fell onto the endstone, the creature finally dissolving into particles.

But they didn’t retrieve them, didn’t pause to take a breath. There wasn’t anything to celebrate yet.

Mumbo all but dived to the floor, scrambling over to Iskall. His bashed head was the least of their worries now. His throat was ripped open, blood streaming down the sides and pooling on the cold stone. The skin was shredded, flaps of it twisting and jolting and tearing more as Iskall jerked with each gasping breath. Mumbo didn’t have to be a doctor to know he shouldn’t be able to see Iskall’s windpipe diced like an onion. The jagged tears pulled open further as Iskall tried to force down air, but only succeeding in drawing blood down into his lungs.

“Shit, _shit_ , Grian, give me your jumper!” Mumbo hissed, clamping his hands around Iskall’s neck with as much force as he dared. If Iskall could have spared enough air for noise, Mumbo knew he would be screaming. His friend’s blood streamed through his fingers. It was hot, almost burning in comparison to the End’s cold air. It wormed under his nails and into his fingerprints, seeped into his sleeves.

Grian wriggled out of his jumper faster than Mumbo had ever seen and stuffed it to Iskall’s neck. The red fabric soaked up more and more, and the blood kept coming. Mumbo repositioned it, holding it as close and tight as he could. He couldn’t find the balance between stopping the bleeding and letting Iskall breathe, and he needed to breathe, Mumbo was even more aware of that as his own breath refused to leave his lungs.

“He’ll be okay, right? Xisuma just finished messing with the world, right?” More blood, and the panic was clear in Grian’s voice.

“He’ll be fine, he’ll be fine,” Mumbo shot back, hardly believing how lucky they were that those words were true. How lucky they were to have an admin who changed the fabric of the world to keep them safe. And how lucky they were that this hadn’t happened just yesterday, when Xisuma was still fiddling and this little incident could have had permanent consequences.

Iskall wouldn’t be gone forever after this, but that knowledge didn’t mean he could sit back and watch his friend’s blood cover the ground without at least _trying_ to help.

But there was still more blood. It wasn’t stopping and it wasn’t slowing, but Iskall’s struggle was. The ragged breaths were weaker, his twitches of pain less extreme.

“I’m sorry Iskall, it’s too much for a potion to help. We’ll get your stuff and see you at home, yeah?” Mumbo’s voice came out far calmer than he felt, a last-ditch attempt at comforting his friend. He didn’t expect it to help. He would never get used to telling someone that they were going to die.

But Iskall seemed to understand, nodding as much as he could with his last splutters for air. It was barely a twitch, but the look in his eye was enough to reassure Mumbo that he knew it was going to be okay.

They were both kneeling next to him seconds later when he stopped moving.

His body started to fade out of existence like they always did, leaving them sitting in a red pool, clothes and bags soaking it up and a sodden jumper, that hadn’t changed colour at all, lying on the ground. Their trousers were drenched and Mumbo was sure his shoes would never recover. The bottom of his bag had dipped into the pool, too.

They gathered Iskall’s items in silence, futilely attempting to keep the worst of the mess from spreading.

No discussion needed. They head back.

End-busting is finished for today.

**Author's Note:**

> So this was meant to be in another fic I'm planning, but that ended up changing and I still really wanted to write it, so it turned into a oneshot


End file.
